His Inner Nightmare
by chocokat13
Summary: Imogen smiled a little, but it was cold, and her brown eyes were full of pain and hurt. "Don't you know?" she breathed. "You can only ever choose one."


**A short little one-shot to make up for not writing anything in awhile. :) I was writing this for a roleplay and figured I might as well post if on FF too. Basically this is a nightmare Eli is having some time after the break-up when he's now dating Imogen. Enjoy!**

It was like being suckerpunched in the stomach. But maybe worse.

Their anguished cries were ringing in his ears, and he was looking around the room frantically, trying to find them in the darkness that was surrounding him. His stomach was being tied into painful knots as the cries grew louder and more pained. "Where are you?" His shaky voice reverberated around the room

"Eli!" They wailed. "Save me!"

"I can't find you!" he shouted, his voice breaking as the sobs rose in his chest.

"Please!" a voice cried out, and Eli's eyes widened at the familiar voice.

"Julia! Where are you?" he yelled, but all he heard in response was a loud scream. And then there was one less person screaming for him. He felt the tears stinging in his eyes, blurring his vision. Suddenly he saw a figure, thrashing in the darkness. "Julia?" he called to her, finding the will to move and running to her side. But it wasn't Julia; his vision had tricked him. It couldn't be Julia, of course not. Julia was dead already.

"Eli, Eli, please, make it stop," Imogen cried, her body twitching but her large brown eyes on him. Eli ran his fingers lightly over her body, trying to find the source of her pain. "ELI!" she screamed, and another voice joined into her screaming.

"Eli, Eli, I need you! Help me, please!" this voice whimpered, and Eli whipped his head up to see Clare's body squirming just a little way away.

"Clare!" Eli shouted, and he felt his heart tearing up inside.

"Eli, save me!" she cried, and her voice rang so high that it made Eli flinch.

"I - I -" he stammered, and he was cut off by Imogen letting rip another howl. "Make it stop! MAKE IT STOP!" she screamed, eyes bulging.

"I don't - I don't know how." Eli's voice was strangled as he choked on his sobs.

The sound of Clare letting out another scream made Eli want to run to her side desperately, but suddenly he felt his feet grow heavy. He tried to stand, but his body was frozen beside Imogen's fidgeting form.

"ELI!" Clare called for him, voice pained.

"I'm coming, Clare, I'm coming! Hold on for me, please!" Eli begged her, pleading with his body and praying that it would release the grip on him and let him move.  
>Imogen was still in pain, the thing inside her killing her slower than it was killing Clare though. Eli needed to move now if he wanted to save Clare, his Juliet, his Blue Eyes.<p>

As Clare let out another shriek, Eli felt his body loosen, and he stumbled to get up and run to her side. It felt like an eternity as he ran, as if he was running in slow motion. Like he'd never reach her on time. "Faster, come on, faster!" Eli urged his body, but it wouldn't pick up pace.

By the time he collapsed at Clare's side, she had stopped moving. The sobs formed again inside of his chest as Eli saw that her beautiful blue eyes had glazed over. "No, please, no," he cried, the tears spilling out of his eyes and falling onto her cold body. "Clare, please." He ran the back of his hand across her cheek, shivering at the feeling of her cold skin. "Clare," he croaked again.

He was suddenly reminded of the other girl in pain, and he found himself slowly crawling away from Clare's side and back to Imogen's. He had been too late to save Clare, but maybe he could save Imogen. Her eyes were wide open when he reached her, and he felt fear run cold in his body. Had he lost her too?

But as he approached her, he saw her chest rising and falling ever so slightly, and she slowly turned her head to look at him. "You chose her," she wheezed. "You left...you left my side...to try to save her," she whispered.

"I thought I could...I thought I could save you both," Eli tried to explain.

Imogen smiled a little, but it was cold, and her brown eyes were full of pain and hurt. "Don't you know?" she breathed. "You can only ever choose one."

Eli shook his head, fresh tears falling from his eyes. "No...no..." He reached for her hand, but she used the last of her strength to jerk it away from him.

"You're too late," she murmured. "You tried...you tried to save both...when you should have saved me..." She took in a breath. "But now you have none."

"No, that's not -" Eli cut himself off when he saw her take a last shuttering breath, and then the light in her eyes slowly faded. "No," Eli whispered, eyes widening as he looked at her still body. "No...NO!" He let out a wail as he cried harder, his body shaking with sobs.

**Author's Note: The story is really supposed to show how no matter how much he'll claim to love Imogen, he still wants Clare. It shows that he hasn't moved on from Clare and that he loves them both. But as Imogen points out, when he tries to have them all, he ends up with none. (I'm not saying he's like a player or anything. I'm saying it gets difficult when you love more than one person.) Hope you enjoyed it though! Review, please! :)**


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